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In gyms across North America for the next month, Bryan Colangelo will sit and dissect the relative merits of teenagers strutting their stuff for him, trying to unearth some gem that can help the Raptors get back to even the middle of the NBA pack.

Handicapping the NBA draft is an inexact science, but it will be all-consuming for the Raptors president and general manager, with workouts to conduct, countless hours of video to watch and days of making phone calls to glean as much intelligence as he can ahead of the June 24 event.

The process has begun on a smallish scale. Colangelo is among a handful of NBA general managers watching a group of possible late first- or second-round selections work out in Minneapolis this week, but there remains much work to be done to determine the most significant of his picks.

Colangelo says he can figure out nine players who are most likely to be gone when the Raptors make the 13th selection but there’s a group of a dozen or so who are candidates for that pick.

He won’t give specifics on which players are on his radar at the moment, although with both Chris Bosh and Amir Johnson free agents on July 1, there would be a need to add some size to the Raptors roster.

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Luckily for Toronto, most experts concur that this draft class is deep in power forwards and centres, so someone who fits the Raptors’ needs should be available when they make their selection.

The earnest work for the Raptors will begin next week, when players they’ve identified as potential 13th selections start being invited for individual workouts and dinners with Colangelo and his staff.

Quite aside from athletic abilities, the visits give the Raptors a chance to see how teenagers interact with coaches and support staff, their willingness to take direction from coaches in strenuous gym sessions and how they handle themselves overall in what is a de facto job interview.

The usual gang of suspects will advise Colangelo and offer opinions on the various possibilities. Director of player personnel Jim Kelly, a day-one employee who’s the longest-serving full-time member of the talent evaluation department, spent the bulk of his winter on the road compiling reports.

Senior adviser Wayne Embry, senior vice-president of basketball operations Maurizio Gherardini, assistant GMs Marc Eversley and Masai Ujiri, and long-time scout Bob Zuffelato have also been looking at prospects since the college season began last November and help make up Colangelo’s braintrust.

The Minnesota visit may not yield anything since the Raptors don’t have a second-round pick; that went to Miami as part of the Shawn Marion-Jermaine O’Neal transaction in 2009.

However, Colangelo has always expressed a willingness to acquire additional picks — but only if someone who’s caught his eye is available with a pick that may be obtainable in a trade.

If the Raptors do acquire a second-round selection, however, they’ll have to undo a long history of failed picks. While few teams hit home runs with every second-round selection — most like to take projects they can stash in Europe for a season or two — Toronto’s history is particularly bleak.

They’ve never made a second-round selection of their own that amounted to anything, and only Matt Bonner, whom they acquired from Chicago for another second-round pick in 2003, became an NBA regular and even then only after he spent a season honing his skills in Europe.

The coaching staff plays a relatively minor role in the process. Head coach Jay Triano will be consulted and he and his staff will take part in the all the individual workouts as well as visit some workouts on the road, but it’s primarily Colangelo’s Gang of Six that will guide him to the ultimate decision on June 24.

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